Good vibrations, Bad vibrations it’s all about vibrations!! RAM would like to introduce a new signature level knob developed for the mighty Silver Rock potentiometer. The standard bakelite knob is certainly the best sounding compromise... but now Audio Consulting has taken this aspect of the Silver Rock much further. The new knobs are custom made with beech wood and bronze where the bronze is used as the insert to mount to the stem of the volume pot. The beech wood is coated several times with C37 lacquer for best sound as pointed out by Dieter Ennemoser. How can this make a difference??? Well, hearing is believing as we always say. The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect…really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear…way better sound!!Knobs can easily be installed on all versions of the Silver Rock potentiometer

The partition that divides one of audio's main feuds. When I read that, I began to think of names of esteemed members who may find such a knob beneficial and tell everyone else how good it is. Slippery.

With all due respect, I think $485 for a laquered wooden knob with a brass insert is a bit rich. I'm not handy, but, I suspect one could visit Home Depot, spend a little time and save $475. Heck, that's more than the cost (used) of some complete highly regarded pre-amps.

Me I likes the Monks record cleaner and paid just more for it than the price of the voodoo knob. I have some highly regarded output jacks with wood that also will impove your system, but it will require solder, and I can let a pair of those go for just under $500. They have cyprus wood insulators and oh my what a difference, and the actual hardware is 24K gold over nickel.

loon please don't slam me with requests, I have perhaps 100 pairs left and they are going like hot-cakes.

This is for real? This reminds me of gear that supposedly sounds better with the cover off...If a piece is this sensitive to knob material, I don't belive it was engineered well to begin with....Just like the gear that sounds better w/the cover off....

I'm not kidding, just my opinion.....P.S., I do admire you for having the guts to post this!

HoooHaaaa, it's those $500 wooden knobs back again. The same knobs Blue Circle manages to put on most of their gear at a seemingly amazing discount. Must be those low Canadian lumber prices. Can you just imagine the profit margin on those suckers! But, oh, worth every damn penny. Why I purchased 6 at the low, low price of $3000.00 and attached them to every one of my components. The mono amps, CD transport and DAC have no attenuators so I just crazy-glued them in strategic positions. Oh the differences I heard....well let me tell you, they were not subtle....soundstage deep, wide, high, low.....dynamics in spades......transients decaying like the taste of a smooth cabernet...."GOSH DAMN," said my visiting neighbor who came to borrow my sawzall, "your stereo sure does sound great, where can I get me one of those?" I told him about the knobs and he just ordered himself up a half-dozen himself and stuck'em all over his 1987 vintage JVC/Bose rig and I'll be damned if the thing doesn't put most high-dollar boutique rigs to shame now! The secret's out now so you'd better get yours while the price is still reasonable! They even have a moderate WAF of 7.9 if they are discreetly attached. That factor goes down to the Divorce Level if your wife should actually see the invoice. Just tell her you got'em at Home Depot, or spun'em yourself on your friend's lathe....but do make sure that invoice goes in the shredder! Oh, and Loontoon, I'll take six of your remaining output jacks if there's some still left. I still got plenty of crazy-glue!

Nrchy,Just want to say it was good hearing your system this weekend. The Krell preamp and Purist speaker cables are hooked in. All I can say is WOW! I'll try and get something posted soon. Main reason for writing this is I like the Clydsdale reference to Albert's post.

Take a drill thru the middle of the knob thats on there now and in to this threaded hole mount an official nhl hockey puck. Make sure that the hole is centered so you dont get DPL (dreaded puck lobing) effect. Dont use minor league pucks they have a tendency to be lightweight in sound. This will not only increase the value of your pre-amp but it will look sterling. I have some hockey pucks that I bought for .85 a piece I'm selling as DPAD tweaks (discordant attenuator adapter discs) for 1287.56 a piece. And next week Im having a special on WPG (wave propagation guide) pebbles also known as (washed pea gravel) that have been known to really change the sound of a system when used as a filling for CGB (controlled gain bottles) or (clear glass bottles) and placed strategicaly around the room.

For $26,000 + room, board for four days, and round trip air fare from Sweden to you, you can have former Abba bass player Rutger Gunnarsson come and cop a squat in your listening room in each of the four corners of the room. Gunnarsson's turds have been proven to have mirraculous properties of acoustic absorption that has yet to be reproduced by any (other) man-made substance. These properties belie their relatively diminutive size, exhibiting a remarkable NRC rating across the entire acoustic spectrum. A handful of user reviews over on Audioasylum claim the break-in period is lengthy and arduous, with one of the lowest WAF's in all of tweakdom (better send her off to St. Barth while those turds are aging), but in the end all users claim improvements of insurmountable proportions. Audioasylum inmate "4EVRsingle" claims Rutger's stools made a "buttload of difference in my impossibly lively listening room", while inmate "analaudio" tells of how during those first four weeks of burn-in time he became so disgusted by his apparent mistaken investment that he came close to flushing the damn things down the toilet. His story is a happy one though, as he goes on to say that one day, after about five weeks with the fetid piles, he began to notice a smoothness to the sound of his system that he had never thought attainable. From there on in it only got better. "These are the TRUE "Magic Brick's", he concludes! And everyone reports Gunnarsson "is a real nice guy....and he speaks English real good too!"

Yet another great tweak suggestion from the inventor of "The Perch"!!!

While ABBA's bass player may be a gas, he is strictly "stinky number two" when compared to my animal shelter Persian cat.

When my system gets too bright or the soundstage is dry, skip dumping the litter box and the cat does the rest. Not only in the corners, but under sofas, the dining room table and even under my tube amps.

What does that have to do with ABBA? Our stories are strangely linked.

While searching each cage at the shelter, their Bose Wave radio was softly playing ABBA's, "Take A Chance On Me, " and at that moment, I rescued the white Persian and took her home with me.

So you see, even those of us that cannot afford ABBA's bass player still manage the acoustic miracle by way of an abandoned fur ball and a Bose radio.

I think it's absolutely amazing for one of us to come up with such an obscure tweak, certain that no other audiophile would give it a second thought. Then you read this post at Audiogon and realize how small our planet is.

Hey Albert - Small planet indeed! I'll bet we can trace it all back to Kevin Bacon somehow! Leave it to the originator of the "Porter-Outlet" to come up with a more affordable and effective tweak. OK Albert, how much for the cat turds? I've already blown my tweak-allowance for the month on Loontoon's excellent Cyprus output jacks. But maybe in March I can order up some of your Persian's poops. As long as you don't send them by FedexGround as I'm sure they'll figure out a way to damage them. Have you tested the hairballs yet?

Oh, this is good. And, if I may say so, I feel pretty smug about going with a Blue Circle preamp, 'cause at $485 per knob, I basically got the rest of the preamp for the price of the upgraded Shallco attenuator ($250). 'Course, what kind of twit would spend $1500 for wooden knobs, eh?

I bet Gilbert/Blue Circle would gladly sell his knobs for a fair price. :-)

My preferred tweek is the ZEN tweek.I pay myself $4,208,199.34 via check for a special NON-TWEEK of the week. I take the non-tweek and the check and burn them in a special sacrificial urn.I then go listen to my system as if I just spent $4,208,199.34 more on it.Does wonders for me.